would soon join him, and then both would return
to their native land,--perhaps to dwell again under the same roof that
had sheltered them as children.

The history of the elder brother during this period of fifteen years, if
less eventful, was not less distinguished by success. By steadily
following the pursuit which had first attracted him to Peru, he
succeeded in becoming a man of considerable means,--independent, if not
wealthy.

Like his brother, he got married at an early period,--in fact, within
the first year after establishing himself in Cerro Pasco. Unlike the
latter, however, he chose for his wife one of the women of the
country,--a beautiful Peruvian lady. She too, but a short while before,
had gone to a better world, leaving motherless two pretty children, of
twelve and fourteen years of age,--the elder of the two being a
daughter.

Such was the family of Ralph Trevannion, and such the condition of life
in which his brother's epistle reached him,--that epistle containing the
proposal that they should wind up their respective businesses, dispose
of both, and carry their gains to the land that had given them birth.

The proposition was at once accepted, as Richard knew it would be. It
was far from the first time that the thing had been discussed,
epistolary fashion, between them; for letters were exchanged as often as
opportunity permitted,--sometimes twice or thrice in the year.

In these letters, during the last few years of their sojourn in South
America, the promise made on leaving home was mutually mentioned, and as
often renewed on either side. Richard knew that his brother was as eager
as himself to keep that well-remembered vow.

So long as the mother of Ralph's children was alive, he had not urged
his brother to its fulfilment; but now that she had been dead for more
than a year, he had written to say that the time had come for their
return to their country and their home.

His proposal was, that Ralph, having settled his affairs in
Peru,--which, of course, included the selling out of his share in the
mines,--should join him, Richard, at Para, thence to take ship for
England. That instead of going round by Cape Horn, or across the
isthmus, by Panama, Ralph should make the descent of the great Amazon
River, which traverse would carry him latitudinally across the continent
from west to east.

Richard had two reasons for recommending this route. First, because he
wished his brother to see the